Guwahati, July 31: The Guwahati Sports Association (GSA) has introduced a prizemoney in memory of Joymati Das and Jibeswar Goswami in the high profile RG Baruah Trophy Super League and first division football league commencing tomorrow.

Announcing the cash award of nearly Rs 45,000 in Super League and Rs 10,000 in the first division league, GSA president Pulak Goswami today said it was the first step towards pumping in money to the two high profile tournaments of the state.

He said the amounts would be increased in the future depending upon the availability of sponsorship.

Nearly eight foreign players and 30 outstation players, including those from Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, Delhi, Gujarat, Orissa, West Bengal and Meghalaya, will participate in the two leagues to be held simultaneously at the Nehru Stadium.

In the double leg Super League, which comprises about 40 matches, the winners will go home richer by Rs 15,000 and the runners-up by Rs 10,000.

“Besides, we have introduced a cash award of Rs 10,000 for the Most Disciplined Team in memory of Gobinda Chandra Talukdar. The initiative has been taken in order to overcome the menace of late arrivals of teams for matches and teams conceding matches midway the tournament,” GSA secretary Munin Nobis said.

“It is also observed that players of some of the teams behave improperly off the field and their supporters too become unruly at times during the matches. All aspects will be taken into account for award of the reward,” added Goswami.

The GSA has also organised a workshop involving secretaries, coaches and referees of the two tournaments here on Wednesday to discuss various aspects of improving the standard of the tournaments on and off the ground.

Further there will be a prizemoney of Rs 5,000 each for the Zahir Ahmed Best Goalkeeper, Noni Patowari Best Goal Scorer, Jiten Das Highest Scorer and Landmark Hotels Best Defender.

In the first division league, the prizemoney for the winners is Rs 5,000, the runners-up walk away with Rs 3,000 and there will be Rs 1,000 for the winners of the Munnakon Dutta Most Disciplined Team.

Further, the CK Sarma Highest Scorer and the Rajani Bhuyan Best Player will receive cash prizes of Rs 500 each.

Those participating in the first division league are Gauhati Town Club, Maharana AC, Rising XI, City Police, NF Railway Sports Association SC, Rajbari AC, Chandmari SC and Narakasur Jyoti Sangha.

In another initiative, the GSA has engaged three national referees from the Indian Football Association, Calcutta, to officiate the matches as refereeing has been questioned on various occasions in the last few editions of the tournaments.

“Most of our state’s national referees have superannuated from active refereeing and some of the active ones have been out of the city because of their services. Thus, we have hired three referees from West Bengal. Besides, our own referees will also be officiating the matches,” Nobis said.

Tomorrow, Assam Police Blues will meet SAI SC in the Super League opener and Rising XI clash with Maharana AC in the first division league inaugural match.